Student Suspended for Saying "Bless You" After Classmate Sneezed

A public school teacher who outlawed students saying "bless you" in class suspended a young girl for breaking the rule after a classmate sneezed. Seriously.

CBS in Charlotte reports: Kendra Turner, a senior at Dyer County High School, said bless you to her classmate who sneezed and the teacher told her that the term was for church.

“She said that we’re not going to have godly speaking in her class and that’s when I said we have a constitutional right,” Turner told WMC.

When she defended her actions, the teacher told Turner to see an administrator. The student said that she had to finish the class period in in-school suspension.

Now, according to reports the school is saying she shouted it across the room. Who knows? But to me, I'm not really giving the teacher the benefit of the doubt when she's banning words like "bless you" from her classroom. That's just...issues, right?

It turns out the kid's youth pastor said that many students had complained about this particular teacher being demeaning to them.

But here is the really really cool part with extra awesome thrown in just for fun. A number of the girl's classmates showed up to school the following day wearing shirts with the words "bless you" emblazoned on them.

OK, anyone else seeing a Christian movie being made of this? Come on. The music swells and all the kids march in to class wearing their "God bless you" t-shirts. It'll be kind of like that scene in "Rudy" when the players all turn their jerseys in so Rudy can play.

And either the teacher is converted right there on the spot or goes crazy and is escorted off-campus...for good. I'll leave that up to the director.

Comments

The student is correct she has a Constitutional right to say “God bless you”—or—“Bless you” to anyone. School administrators cannot prohibit the speech of students to other students,—but many school districts like this one have adopted policies seeking to impose their PC will over students with threats and intimidation of suspension. We have seen this happen regarding prayer at football games or at graduation exercises. Student-led prayer is a right the district or state cannot challenge. The school district would lose in court over this “Bless you” policy were there to be a challenge. The problem is challenges take time and money and few people are willing to fight these things. There are advocacy groups like the ACLJ who are willing to go to bat over these policies for no charge.
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On the other hand, (if as the school district claims) the student does NOT have any right to shout across the room in the middle of class thus disrupting the teacher and the flow of the class lesson.
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Suspension seems a bit much, however the student might have been looking to provoke this event. The actual truth of the event may be somewhere in the middle.

Posted by Blackbird on Sunday, Aug 31, 2014 6:55 PM (EDT):

It’s her word against the teacher’s. Of course she’s just trying to make trouble and draw attention to herself. It can’t be the first or last time someone says “bless you” to a person who sneezes. She’s just putting up a controversy to avoid taking responsibility for what she really did to deserve suspension.

She probably has a discipline record a mile long, but the school has to protect her privacy. We’ll never know the circumstances and the case will never get to court.

Posted by Amy on Saturday, Aug 30, 2014 10:46 AM (EDT):

It would be disruptive if one shouted, “bless you” across the room. Saying any of the courtesies, “bless you, gesundheit, to your health” which is a common saying in many languages after one sneezes, could be said in a whisper so as not to draw attention. Prudence and courtesy all around.

Posted by Paul on Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 3:10 PM (EDT):

I won’t get into whether the student, the teacher, or both were exaggerating. The fact that stands out is this: This teacher finds a number of very clearly NON-vulgar words and expressions to be annoying. Welcome to the world of being with teenagers for six hours per day! Want to get these teenagers to repeat these annoying words and phrases over and over again? Post them on the board as “forbidden.”

If this teacher were in management, she would be a micromanager to the extreme.

Posted by Peg on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 8:36 PM (EDT):

What do Pentecostals teach about “spare the rod, spoil the child”? Perhaps their female youth pastor can take that up at their next meeting.

Posted by Starzec on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 3:09 PM (EDT):

Teacher over re-acting to what is an exceptionally common response to a sneeze. Teen-aged student who, whether or not raised her voice, still questioned the authority of the ADULT in the classroom. Administrators who felt compelled to suspend the student.
Hmmm. Something wrong with this picture. To be sure, administrators should be aware that suspending a student for “religious reasons” (if I am to read this blog correctly) would set the school district up for lawsuit of BIBLICAL proportions (yes pun intended). So I highly doubt an administrator or group of administrators sent the ‘angelic’ teen-age home for simply expressing her religious views. Especially in North Carolina where I am sure the administrators and the girl go to the same church.
My guess is that the good Christian teen-ager said something very unchristian-like and got suspended.

Posted by patrick oconnor on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 9:57 AM (EDT):

fight fire with fire!

Posted by patrick oconnor on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 9:55 AM (EDT):

remember the priest sued the people who took the consecrated host from the church and within 24 hrs they returned it. They hate and are scared when we use their own tactics!!

Posted by patrick oconnor on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 9:53 AM (EDT):

kid should sue teacher and school! you have to play them at their game if your gonna beat this secular agenda! Somebody please call the Beckett fund! and now!

Posted by Mary De Voe on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014 9:52 AM (EDT):

sarah mac: In one college the professor told the students to write: “JESUS” in block letters, throw the paper on the floor and stomp on it. Only one student refused. Without a law suit the student would have been failed by the college and tax paid professor. Taxation without representation and Jesus is a sovereign person. How soon that people are going to be killed?

Posted by K C Thomas on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 8:34 AM (EDT):

Why not all Christians say ” Jesus” whenever they sneeze. I always do that wherever I am. Does America have freedom ? I doubt. People should get agitated over this issue and secure their rights intact. Who knows if American democrats will ban sneezing and cough !

Posted by Seth on Friday, Aug 22, 2014 10:00 PM (EDT):

According to the Fox News website, which also has an article concerning this, one of the students took pictures of the “banned” words that the teacher did not allow in her class. To include, but not limited to, “my bad,” “stupid” and “bless you” which were put up on a wall in the class. The school denies such a list exists, but if it is true, I would think it adds a tiny bit of credibility to the student’s story.

Posted by Cathy on Friday, Aug 22, 2014 1:14 PM (EDT):

I would LOVE to see that movie!!

Posted by Mary De Voe on Friday, Aug 22, 2014 10:05 AM (EDT):

sarah mac: There is no punishment for the sign of peace at Mass. There ought not be punishment for saying “God bless.” but there is. It is the punishment doled out to the minor person for exercising a citizen’s civil rights in a public place that is the foundation for communism, proliferation of atheism and the state owning the person as a beast of burden. Taxation without representation.

Posted by Jim on Friday, Aug 22, 2014 4:08 AM (EDT):

I have heard of instances somewhat similar to this. Some teachers think any mention of Jesus or God should be punished. Some teachers want freedom FROM religion in every instance and do not understand the concept of freedom OF religion. Atheism and anti-Christianity is being promoted by many teachers. I suspect many children should use the new technology to prove their teacher’s malice and will then have proof!

Posted by Paul on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 11:12 PM (EDT):

omg is often used in daily language although it is used by Christians and athiests alike. It means nothing, in fact it can be used as a form of slang.
The ‘synod on the family’ should be the focus of Catholics over the next few weeks because the Vatican is searching for a ‘SOLUTION’ to justify sin, in the name of modernism. The only SOLUTION is to adhere to church teaching and obey or to be frank, stop sinning.

Posted by BD Stillion on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 7:01 PM (EDT):

I heard an interview with the young lady in question earlier today. She did not even say “God bless you,” but only “Bless you,” which makes the teacher’s response even more silly. I’ve heard people who call themselves witches say “Bless you,” and they certainly aren’t referring to a Christian notion of God when they do that. More to the point, I’ve heard many completely secular people say “Bless you” when somebody sneezes; it is simply a cultural norm, like saying “Hello” or “Goodbye” or “Excuse me.” The teacher’s response to it was inappropriate; it was best ignored. By making an issue out of it, she definitely challenged the teen to defend herself. At that point (from what I heard on the radio), I think the interaction got more heated. As a teacher myself, I expect the girl got “back-talky” to the teacher, as she talked about “speaking up for her Constitutional rights,” etc. So I expect sending her to the office was partly in response to some disrespect from the student which occurred in response to the teacher’s silly objection to a culturally-accepted (at least for now!) response to a sneeze. However, the teacher’s mistake in responding AT ALL to something that was so innocuous (unless you have some kind of militant agenda to pursue PC-ism even to the extirpation of any kind of common courtesy from the culture—what’s next? we’re not allowed to say “Goodbye” to somebody, because that derives from “God be with you”? Horrors!), is what set the whole thing in motion. Good grief, “Bless you” is just POLITE. Can we not even retain basic common COURTESY anymore, or will “political correctness” kill even that? Myself, I beg for the retention of courtesay. “Please,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” “bless you.” “Hello.” “Goodbye.”

Posted by Therese on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 6:56 PM (EDT):

As a high school teacher myself, I see it this way.
The teacher inflamed the students sense of justice when she told them that they could not speak “God words.” The students retaliated by (possibly) faking a sneeze and giving an overzealous “God Bless You.” The teacher started the problem. I applaud the students for their activism.

Posted by sarah mac on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 5:42 PM (EDT):

@ Mary De Voe: my argument is that the disruption is the same. Both are situations where the group is expected to refrain from communicating with each other. The act is the same as well, a polite gesture acknowledging some concern for neighbor. The only difference is the invitation to act, at mass it comes from the priest or deacon vs this case in an unplanned sneeze. Demanding to remove the sign of peace (by the church to maintain reverence) is as sound as demanding the response of “bless you” being banned in the classroom (by a teacher trying to maintain silence among teenagers). The teacher has attempted to change what was once the norm, which is what the owners of this blog attempted in a previous post. Both have seemingly failed. Whether or not the teacher was wrong hinges on her motive. The author completely disregards this because of the words being banned; immediately siding with the student. The school says the student shouted, but that doesn’t matter in this post. Yet, it’s the commotion of the sign of peace that has them in a twist. Do you see it now?

Posted by Francis Choudhury on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 5:42 PM (EDT):

As a former teacher, I myself would say “Bless you,” every time one of my students sneezed in class. That would (over time) serve as a foil for any ruse for disruption (if it were indeed so) AND constitute a lesson in Godly behavior.

Posted by maureen on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 5:37 PM (EDT):

Saying “God Bless You” is a matter of habit for me when someone sneezes. It was a matter of courtesy when I was growing up. Even teaching, I interrupt myself to bless a student, then carry on with my lecture. Even in the event that a student intentionally chose to disrupt the class, it would take less time for me to utter a"God bless you” and continue with the class than to stop the class to scold a student or kick the student out. Talk about overreaction! Even if the student shouted it, I would have ignored it then, and spoken to the student later unless it continued. Teachers need to use common sense at times.

Posted by buffcody on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 4:29 PM (EDT):

As a former school teacher, I am very aware of a much used ruse for students to show their classmates they could be disruptive without paying any penalty. That is to say, as this girl did, “bless you” or “God bless you” in a very loud voice with the follow up, if the teacher takes negative note of it, that I was just following my belief. This is nothing new. If I look at other words on the bulletin board that were “banned” by the teacher, I can come up with good reasons why he might have chosen each one. Of course, there are all sorts of things that we, who were not there, don’t know about this particular situation. But it does not lessen my suspicion of the girl’s motives and the teacher’s intentions.

Posted by Mary De Voe on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 3:54 PM (EDT):

sarah mac: Pope Benedict XVI wanted to place the kiss of peace before the Consecration, before when the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ is on the altar. Reverence of Jesus Christ surpasses all other notations of peace, since all men are in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Bringing oneself and others to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is our offering at Mass. The chaos is reprehensible. An indult is the toleration given to ignorant people, atheists and others not so endowed with sovereignty and ingenuity. It is the punishment doled out to the minor person for exercising a citizen’s civil rights in a public place that is the foundation for communism, proliferation of atheism and the state owning the person as a beast of burden. Taxation without representation.

Posted by James A. Falank on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 3:43 PM (EDT):

I always thought it was a COMMON COURTESY to say either God Bless You or Bless You. Must be some people have no courtesy at all.

Posted by Mary De Voe on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 3:37 PM (EDT):

The Constitution was written “to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” our constitutional posterity…from the Preamble, the unchangeable purpose of the Law of the Land. The Blessings of Liberty denied to any one person is denied to all persons. This teacher proselytizing atheism and denying civil rights enumerated in the Constitution to a minor captive audience needs to be sent for anger management, ignorance and ego redefinement and a good session in civics 101 reading of the Constitution. Atheists have gone nuts reading “Divine Providence” in our Founding Principles and the truth that the state does not own the minor children, although the atheist likes to believe that he owns other people, the devil is a liar.

Posted by sarah mac on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 3:03 PM (EDT):

Oh my gosh the hypocrisy here is too hard to ignore! The same guys who want to ban saying “peace be with you” at mass because it’s too disruptive are supporting a girl who disrupts class by saying “bless you”? Make up your minds gentlemen. In places calling for respect (church or school), either the brief disruption caused by the expression of peace/blessing is worthwhile or it isn’t.

Posted by winnifred splinter on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 2:57 PM (EDT):

I would ask the teacher if this happened.

Posted by St Donatus on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 2:07 PM (EDT):

Thibaud, I thought the article indicated that several other students in the class wore T Shirts saying ‘God Bless You’ to school to protest. If the student was just being a jerk, why would they risk the teachers disapproval and potential bad grades due to this incident?

My daughter is a teacher and teaches seventh grade where the kind of behavior you are talking about is common, so I know what you mean. At the same time, the evidence seems to be against the teacher.

I know we are going to be privy soon to specific details surrounding this incident.
This occurrence does not exist in a vacuum and while I appreciate the sentiments of those who want to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt
as I teach, we need to pay attention and give thought to Jesus. He instructed his apostles and all Christians to let our yes be yes and let our no be no. Christians need to regain control of our right to express
our love for God.
This is a pattern of nullification totally of God and and the Lord Jesus Christ in all our institutions… and of the believer’s in the one true God. Satan wants us to sit down and shut up ! We are to be silenced into submission, by his demonic forces, destroying not only our nation but Canada as well, former bastions of Christianity. This insanity has destroyed much of Europe as well.They bought into PC and look at the shape they are in.
As the Christians are silenced more and more, the world is descending into chaos. Satan is delighted.
PC is satanic. It silences the narrative of the people. When good people are silenced, chaos runs rampant. This young lady said three word’s
and they are powerful word’s…GOD BLESS YOU ! The fact these three word’s got her into trouble is the disgrace. Whether she whispered them or shouted them does not offend God. Considering what is going on in public education today…what now passes for education with many administrators,
teacher’s unions, and teacher’s, we should be over joyed if the young lady
screamed God bless you from the roof top of the school !

Either we are soldier’s here on earth for Christ or we are not.
I am not suggesting militancy as we have enough of that already…what I do advocate is an unwavering and civil refusal to back down from being silenced and marginalized into oblivion…a refusal to be labeled because we love Jesus, by blabbaphobist’s coming out of the woodwork.
Jesus went to the cross for us. His ministry required the ultimate sacrice
of himself. He did not hesitate…He did not postpone the action He knew was required…He did what needed to be done exactly at the right time.
Right now is the exact time that all Christian’s regardless of denomination, need to be cohesive, get out of the church pews,and put our
best impulses to the forefront !
THERE ARE TWO JUXTAPOSING CAMPS ON EARTH NOW…
GOD’S CAMP
SATAN’S CAMP
THERE IS NO PC CAMP IN THE MIDDLE .

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Posted by Tim on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 11:56 AM (EDT):

It is helpful to look past the battles and see the war. Swearing isn’t acceptable in most schools. So are schools still Christian? It all depends… When I think of my own mother, what is it she MOST desired? It was to be loved by her children, husband and friends. This is why we need the Christian faith in our public schools. Today’s school philosophies tend toward self-centeredness and competition. It is a culture of marginalization and isolation from God and each other.

The movie already exists! “God’s Not Dead,” starring Kevin Sorbo and Shane Harper was released in 2013, and DVD’s of the movie went on sale at bookstores across the nation in early August.

The movie’s trailer tells the Charlotte story and then some:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjo5f9eiX8

Posted by Frances on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:40 AM (EDT):

This trend of banning Christian terms from common language, because it is deemed offensive, I find it very odd. It is interesting to Know the teacher’s reaction if the banned student said,“F**k you” instead.

Posted by Catholic pilgrim on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:35 AM (EDT):

Eleanor, you’ve got the right answer: homeschool.

Posted by maureen on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:33 AM (EDT):

Saying “bless you” for a sneeze is an automatic response for me. I sometimes interrupt myself in class to say “bless you” to a student. Unless it was excessive and meant to disturb class (and I think that would be pretty obvious), then I’d let it go. If one student said one “bless you” during the class time, even if it was meant to disrupt class, it would take less time away from class to ignore it then to reprimand the student. It seems like the teacher had an anti-God, anti-religion agenda. Kudos to her classmates. And for the movie, Matt, insanity is the best option.

Posted by Catholic pilgrim on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:33 AM (EDT):

I like how you’re all so quick to dismiss a teenager because she’s a teenager but not the teacher. Not all teens are liars, you know. (My sister was a teen once & she was a very honest & modest teen, like many other teens I know- though not certainly all, of course.) And from experience, some teachers can be quite belligerent.

Posted by mrscracker on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:30 AM (EDT):

It may have been a combination of things.
Headlines can lead us to make assumptions & react accordingly.

Posted by Eleanor on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 10:29 AM (EDT):

Whether the student is telling the truth, or isn’t….yet another good reason to HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS!!! Avoid issues like this completely. Don’t let someone else raise your kids.

Posted by Thibaud on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 9:50 AM (EDT):

Because it’s quite likely that you are actually, you know, bearing false witness against the teacher.

Posted by Thibaud on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 9:47 AM (EDT):

So we have :

1) a teacher who claims a student disrupted her class by shouting during it. As an aside, asking students not to talk at all (except when asking or answering a question) during class seems to me to be a *very* reasonable request.

2) a high school student (teenage high school students are, of course, the most trustworthy persons in existence) who claims that the teacher “banned all godly speaking in class” and that’s the only reason she was suspended. We have absolutely no other proof or testimony on that, so it’s entirely possible that the high school student is simply lying. And once again, banning all talk non-related to the subject matter during class seems to be a very reasonable request.

And so the logical reaction is to : assume that the teacher is persecuting a student for saying bless you.

Maybe you should save your indignation to times when there actually is something to be indignant about.

Posted by Martin Soy on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 9:46 AM (EDT):

I agree with Matt - “.. This is just straight up nuts. ..”

Posted by Thibaud on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 5:10 AM (EDT):

@Catholic pilgrim : We only have the word of the student for it.

Posted by Catholic pilgrim on Thursday, Aug 21, 2014 12:58 AM (EDT):

Sheila, the teacher explicitly banned “Godly speaking” from the classroom. If you can’t connect dots, that’s your problem, but banning “Godly speaking” goes beyond that teacher’s authority. And now YOU are the one judging the student & casting doubt on her situation. I was a student at a public high school & in a senior-year literature course I remember how the teacher gasped when I mentioned God in a class discussion about Shakespeare. She said it was not polite to mention the G-word in class. Seriously?! Yet she never gasped when students said actual bad words. When you kick God the Creator out of classrooms, this is the type of non-sense you get. A kid has a right to say “God bless you” or “Bless you” whether disruptive or whatever. There’re are more “disruptive” issues to worry about than blessings. Lately, teachers have lost a sense of perspective, they lost spine. This is why we end up with crap like ObamaCore. Okay, that’s my 3 cents.

Posted by Sheila Tobin on Wednesday, Aug 20, 2014 9:38 PM (EDT):

I have to defend the teacher since we don’t know the circumstances. I have had purposely disruptive students fake sneezes and their many friends say “God bless you” disrupting teaching and, in some cases, tests. I have found in twenty-six years teaching that it is a fairly common tactic for getting classes off task. The teacher is then in a double-bind.

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